The slaughter process — lairage, handling, stunning and killing — represents the final welfare-critical stage in farmed animal lives, with standards varying enormously across facilities.
Slaughter welfare is the final opportunity to serve or fail the animals that have lived through the farming system. Lairage conditions — the hours in holding pens before slaughter — can be calm and species-appropriate or crowded and frightening. Stunning quality can produce instant unconsciousness or inadequate sedation that leaves animals capable of experiencing the kill. Post-stun monitoring — checking that animals remain unconscious — is crucial and often inadequate. The mandatory CCTV requirement in English slaughterhouses has transformed accountability and detection of violations, demonstrating that transparency dramatically improves welfare outcomes.